Upright type cleaner

ABSTRACT

An upright type cleaner that uniformly provides a suction force through the whole area of a suction port. The upright type cleaner includes a body having a fan motor that generates suction force, a suction brush provided at a lower portion of the body and having a suction port to perform a cleaning operation relative to a floor using the suction force, a rotating drum installed in the suction brush, a belt connected between the rotating drum and the fan motor, a belt cover that guides the belt and divides the suction port into two suction areas, and a connection path through which the two suction areas are communicated to each other about the belt cover.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a Divisional application of Ser. No. 12/010,881 filed Nov. 1,2006, that is pending which application claims the benefit of KoreanPatent Application Nos. 10-2007-0014905, filed on Feb. 13, 2007, and10-2007-0014904, filed on Feb. 13, 2007, in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present invention relates to an upright type cleaner. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to an upright type cleaner,in which a belt cover divides a suction port into two suction areas anda connection path connects the two suction areas divided about the beltcover, thereby improving suction efficiency.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, an upright type cleaner includes an upright type body, inwhich a driving motor is installed to generate suction force, and asuction brush rotatably coupled to a lower portion of the upright typebody.

A filtering unit and a dirt collecting box are provided in the uprighttype body, so that dirt introduced into the cleaner by means of thesuction force of the driving motor is filtered through the filteringunit and then is collected in the dirt collecting box.

Such an upright type cleaner includes a suction port at a bottom surfaceof the suction brush, and a rotating drum is installed in the suctionport to scatter dust sticking to a floor.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a suction port of an upright typecleaner according to the related art.

The suction port 2 is formed at the bottom surface of a suction brush 1to intake dust, a rotating drum 3 is installed in the suction port 2 inthe transverse direction, and a spiral brush 4 is installed around therotating drum 3.

A body (not shown) of the cleaner includes a fan motor (not shown) fordriving the rotating drum 3 and a belt (not shown) is provided toconnect a pulley of the fan motor with the rotating drum.

A belt cover 6 is provided at a lower case 5, which forms a lowerportion of the suction brush 1, in order to guide the movement of thebelt. The belt extends by passing through an upper portion of thesuction port 2, so that the belt cover 6 divides the suction port 2 intotwo suction areas.

Meanwhile, a connection port (not shown) connected to the body is formedat one side of the suction brush 1, and a suction pipe (not shown) isconnected to the connection port to output the suction force generatedfrom the body, so that dust can be introduced into the cleaner throughthe suction port.

However, the suction force applied to the suction port 2 is reducedproportionally to the distance between the suction port 2 and theconnection port. Especially, since the suction port 2 is divided intotwo suction areas by means of the belt cover 6, the suction force outputfrom a suction port 2 a positioned remotely from the connection port issignificantly reduced due to interference by the belt cover 6, so thesuction port 2 a cannot easily suck the dust. For this reason, thesuction area of the suction port 2 is substantially limited to a suctionport 2 b positioned at one side of the belt cover 6 in adjacent to theconnection port.

In addition, a part of dust sucked through the suction port 2 b cannotbe directly introduced into the body, but move along the rotating drum3, thereby lowering the suction efficiency. Further, the part of dustmay flow back to the suction port 2 b.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide anupright type cleaner capable of uniformly providing suction forcethrough the whole area of a suction port.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an upright typecleaner capable of reducing the amount of dust that moves along arotating drum during a suction process.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forthin part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparentfrom the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention are achievedby providing an upright type cleaner including a body having a fan motorthat generates suction force; a suction brush provided at a lowerportion of the body and having a suction port to perform a cleaningoperation relative to a floor using the suction force; a rotating druminstalled in the suction brush; a belt connected between the rotatingdrum and the fan motor; a belt cover that guides the belt and dividesthe suction port into two suction areas; and a connection path throughwhich the two suction areas are communicated to each other about thebelt cover.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the connection pathincludes at least one of a lower connection path that crosses both sidesof a lower portion of the belt cover and an upper connection path formedabove the rotating drum while crossing both sides of the belt cover.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the lower connectionpath includes a suction guide that forms the suction port in the suctionbrush, and a path section extending from the belt cover toward thesuction port to meet the suction guide.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the path section isinclined relative to the suction guide by a predetermined angle.

Further, according to an aspect of the present invention, the suctionbrush includes a lower case that forms a bottom of the suction brush,and the suction guide and the path section are integrally formed withthe lower case.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a receiving cavity isformed in the suction path to receive the rotating drum therein, and theconnection path is defined by a recess that protrudes outward from thereceiving cavity.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the suction brushincludes an upper case having the receiving cavity and the recess isformed at an upper portion of the upper case.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofthe embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings ofwhich:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of anupright type cleaner according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a bottom of a suction brush shownin FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing an internal structure of asuction brush;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a suction brush of an upright typecleaner according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line A-A shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing an internal structure of asuction brush according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a front sectional view showing an internal structure of asuction brush of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a structure of a suction port of anupright type cleaner according to a related art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the presentinvention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elementsthroughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the presentinvention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of anupright type cleaner according to an embodiment of the presentinvention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a bottom of a suctionbrush shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing aninternal structure of the suction brush.

The upright type cleaner according to the present invention includes abody 10 having a fan motor 34 that generates suction force, and asuction brush 20 rotatably coupled to a lower portion of the body 10.

A filtering unit and a dust collecting box are provided in the body 10,so that dust introduced into the cleaner by means of the suction forceof the fan motor 34 is filtered through the filtering unit and then iscollected in the dirt collecting box.

A handle 11 is provided at an upper portion of the body 10, and a switch12 for controlling the operation of the fan motor 34 is provided in thehandle 11.

Thus, the user operates the fan motor 34 by manipulating the switch 12and then moves the cleaner using the handle 11, so that dust orimpurities existing on the floor are introduced into the body 10 throughthe suction brush 20.

The suction brush 20 includes a suction port 22 at a bottom thereof, anda rotating drum 30 is installed in the upper portion of the suction port22 lengthwise along the suction port 22. The suction brush 20 includesan upper case 25 having a receiving capacity for receiving the rotatingdrum 30, and a lower case 21 having a suction guide 24 and forming thesuction port 22.

A spiral brush 31 is provided at an outer peripheral surface of therotating drum 30 and the spiral brush 31 is exposed out of the suctionport 22. As the rotating drum 30 rotates, the spiral brush 31 scattersdust or impurities sticking to the floor to guide the dust or impuritiesinto the suction port 22.

The rotating drum 30 is driven by the fan motor 34 installed in the body10. In order to transfer the driving force of the fan motor 34 to therotating drum 30, a belt 32 is provided between a rotating shaft 33 ofthe fan motor 34 and the rotating drum 30.

The fan motor 34 is installed in the body 10 and positioned at the rearportion of the rotating drum 30. Thus, the belt 32 is perpendicular toan axial direction of the rotating drum 30 and is moved according to theoperation of the fan motor 34.

The belt 32 crosses one side of the suction port 22 in the front andrear direction of the suction port 22, and the belt cover 23 isinstalled in the lower case 21 to protect and guide the belt 32.

The belt cover 23 surrounds the lower portion of the belt 32 in order toprotect the belt 32 from dust that is introduced through the suctionport 22. Thus, the lower end portion of the belt cover 23 crosses thesuction port 22 in the front and rear direction of the suction port 22.

Therefore, the suction port 22 is divided into two suction areas aboutthe belt cover 23, that is, the suction port 33 is divided into a firstsuction area 22 a corresponding to one side of the belt cover 23 and asecond suction area 22 b corresponding to the other side of the beltcover 23.

A connection path 40 is formed at the lower portion of the belt cover 23to allow the first suction area 22 a to communicate with the secondsuction area 22 b.

The connection path 40 is provided between the lower surface of the beltcover 23 and the upper surface of the suction guide 24 in order toprevent the suction force of the second suction area 22 b from beinglowered relative to the suction force of the first suction area 22 a bythe belt cover 23.

The belt cover 23 includes a path section 23 a that extends toward thesuction port 22. The suction guide 24 is positioned at the lower portionof the path section 23 a.

The path section 23 a is inclined relative to the suction guide 24 by apredetermined angle, so that the path section 23 a meets the suctionguide 24. Thus, as shown in FIG. 3, a space having a triangular shape isformed between the path section 23 a and the suction guide 24. Thisspace is defined as the connection path 40.

The suction guide 24 and the path section 23 a are integrally formedwith the lower case 21 having the suction port 22. When the lower case21 is fabricated through injection molding, a slide core scheme isadopted to extend the path section 23 a toward the suction port 22 suchthat the connection path 40 can be formed.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line A-A shown in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the suction brush 20 includes the upper case25 and the lower case 21. The upper case 25 has a receiving cavity 27 inwhich the rotating drum 30 is rotatably installed.

A connection port (not shown) is formed at one side of the suction brush20 and is connected to the body in such a manner that the suction forcegenerated from the body can be transferred to the connection port. Thereceiving cavity 27 forms a suction path connected between theconnection port and the suction port.

According to the present embodiment, the connection path 41 is formedabove the belt cover 23 such that both sides of the receiving cavity 27,which is divided by the belt cover 23, can be connected each other. Indetail, a recess 26, which is provided above the belt cover 23 whilecrossing the belt cover 23 in the length direction of the rotating drum30, is formed at an inner portion of the upper case 25 having thereceiving cavity 27. The recess 26 forms the connection path 41.

Due to the recess 26 formed in the upper case 25, a portion of the uppercase 25 corresponding to the connection path 41 protrudes outward.

As the connection path 41 is formed, the section area of the suctionpath that connects both sides of the receiving cavity 27 aligned at bothsides of the belt cover 23 can be increased. Accordingly, the suctionforce of the suction area, which is remote from the connection port, canbe prevented from being significantly lowered by the belt cover 23 thatblocks the receiving cavity 27.

The connection paths 40 and 41 according to the above two embodimentshave the same functions in that they can connect the suction areas toeach other at both sides of the belt cover 23, but they have positionsand shapes different from each other. That is, the connection paths 40and 41 are independent from each other, so they can be formed in any oneof the upper case 25 and the lower case 21, or they can be formed inboth of the upper case 25 and lower case 21.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing an internal structure of asuction brush according to another embodiment of the present inventionand FIG. 7 is a front sectional view showing the internal structure ofthe suction brush of FIG. 6.

A brush 31 is installed at an outer peripheral surface of the rotatingdrum 30. The brush 31 is exposed out of the suction port 22 in order toguide impurities such as dust sticking to the floor to the suction port22 when the rotating drum 30 rotates.

The rotating drum 30 is driven by a fan motor provided in the body 10.The driving force of the fan motor is transferred to the rotating drum30 through a belt so that the rotating drum 30 is rotated.

A connection port 29 is provided at one side of the suction brush 20.The connection port 29 is connected to the body 10 such that the suctionport 22 can suck dust as the suction force is generated from the body10.

A suction pipe (not shown) connected to the body 10 is coupled with theconnection port 29. Thus, an internal space of the suction brush 20between the suction port 22 and the connection port 29 forms a suctionpath 27 to which the suction force is applied.

The suction path 27 is provided with a partition 28 to guide dust suckedthrough the suction port 22 into the connection port 29 without allowingthe dust to move along the rotating drum 20.

The partition 28 is a protrusion formed in the suction path 27 andextends along the axial direction of the rotating drum 30 correspondingto the length of the rotating drum 30 and the suction port 22.

The suction port 22 is formed at the bottom of the suction brush 20.Thus, the partition 28 that prevents dust from moving along the rotatingdrum 30 protrudes downward from the top of the suction path 27.

Since the partition 28 protrudes in the suction path 27, the sectionalarea of the suction port 27 is reduced. Therefore, velocity of airintroduced into the suction path 27 may increase due to the partition28, so that dust sucked through the suction port 22 may not move alongthe rotating drum 30, but be introduced into the connection port 29.

In addition, the partition 28 is designed such that the height of thepartition 28 gradually increases proportionally to the distance withrespect to the connection port 29.

The reason for varying the height of the partition 28 in the axialdirection of the rotating drum 30 is that the suction force applied tothe suction force 22 varies in the axial direction of the rotating drum30.

In detail, the connection port 29, through which the suction brush 20 isconnected to the body 10, is formed at one side of the suction brush 20.Thus, the suction force applied to the suction port 22 is reducedproportionally to the distance with respect to the connection port 29.Accordingly, the velocity of air sucked through the suction port 22 isalso reduced proportionally to the distance with respect to theconnection port 29.

Therefore, dust sucked through the suction port located remote from theconnection port 29 may have velocity lower than that of dust suckedthrough the suction port located adjacent to the connection port 29.Accordingly, dust having the lower velocity may move along the rotatingdrum 30.

In order to compensate for the bad influence caused by difference insuction force, the height of the partition 28 is increasedproportionally to the distance with respect to the suction port 29. Inthis case, the sectional area of the suction path 27 is reducedcorresponding to the height of the partition 28, so that velocity of airintroduced into the suction path 27 may increase. Thus, it is possibleto directly guide the dust into the connection port 29.

Since the partition 28 protrudes in the suction path 27, the sectionalarea of the suction path 27 is reduced due to the partition 28. Thisconfiguration may cause a swirl flow in the suction path 27, resultingin greater suction noise.

To solve this problem, the partition 28 is provided with an inclinedguide section 28 a that is formed in the circumferential direction ofthe rotating drum 30. Due to the inclined guide section 28 a, the airflow is not suddenly changed in a receiving cavity 27 a, therebypreventing noise caused by the swirl flow.

As described above, the upright type cleaner according to the presentinvention includes the suction brush having the connection path thatconnects the suction areas at both sides of the belt cover.

Due to the connection path, the suction force generated from the bodycan be sufficiently transferred to the suction area, which is remotefrom the connection port, so that the suction port can easily suck dustor impurities, thereby improving the suction efficiency.

In addition, the upright type cleaner according to the present inventionincludes the partition protruding into the suction path of the suctionbrush.

Due to the partition, dust sucked through the suction port may not movealong the rotating drum, but be introduced into the body through theconnection port, so that the dust collecting efficiency of the uprighttype cleaner can be improved.

Although few embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatchanges may be made in these embodiments without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined inthe claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed:
 1. An upright type cleaner comprising: a body having afan motor that generates suction force; a suction brush provided at alower portion of the body and having a suction port to perform acleaning operation relative to a floor using the suction force; arotating drum installed in the suction brush; a belt connected betweenthe rotating drum and the fan motor; a belt cover that guides the beltand divides the suction port into two suction areas; and a connectionpath through which the two suction areas are communicated to each otherabout the belt cover.
 2. The upright type cleaner as claimed in claim 1,further comprising a partition which is provided in a suction path ofthe suction brush in order to prevent dust sucked through the suctionport from moving along the rotating drum.
 3. The upright type cleaner asclaimed in claim 2, wherein the partition protrudes into the suctionpath and extends in an axial direction of the rotating drum.
 4. Theupright type cleaner as claimed in claim 3, wherein a height of thepartition is gradually increased proportionally to a distance withrespect to the connection port.
 5. The upright type cleaner as claimedin claim 2, wherein the partition comprises an inclined guide sectionthat is formed in a circumferential direction of the rotating drum. 6.An upright type cleaner comprising: a body having a fan motor thatgenerates suction force; a suction brush coupled to the body and havinga suction port for sucking dust and a suction path, in which a first endof the suction path is connected to the suction port and a second end ofthe suction path forms a connection port connected to the body; arotating drum installed in the suction brush and driven by the fanmotor; and a partition provided in the suction path to prevent dustsucked through the suction port from moving along the rotating drum. 7.The upright type cleaner as claimed in claim 6, wherein the partitionprotrudes into the suction path and extends in an axial direction of therotating drum.
 8. The upright type cleaner as claimed in claim 7,wherein a height of the partition is gradually increased proportionallyto a distance with respect to the connection port.